


Calling Home

by KersPastei



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Gen, courtesy of the mechscord, well lyf is more magnus chase but it's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23439793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KersPastei/pseuds/KersPastei
Summary: Lyf has been at Camp Halfblood for almost a week, and their parent is starting to get anxious for news.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 112





	Calling Home

**Author's Note:**

> I said I wasn't going to post this but what can I say, I like that good good validation  
> There's a lot going on in this au but I think the basics you need for this fic are:  
> -Lyf was a valkyrie and then got yeeted into the void by odin, where they were adopted by their eldritch parent  
> -The mechs are immortal demigods/legacy children of various gods and can summon lyf using red signal

This late at night, Camp Halfblood is a peaceful place. Overhead, a million stars glimmer like spilled jewels around a thin, barely-visible sliver of a moon, while below the last embers of the campfire glow dull, muted orange. It’s quiet, now that everyone has gone back to their cabins. Even the Mechanisms are asleep, or at the very least have finished causing chaos for the evening in favor of retreating back into that strange ship of theirs. Lyf alone remains outside, perched on top of one of the picnic tables and absentmindedly kicking their legs as they stare out at the campground. 

They’ve been here for almost a week, now; probably their longest stay in the mortal world since … well, since they were mortal themself. In the short time they spent as a valkyrie, they would sometimes visit for a few hours, and now that the Mechanisms have learned how to summon them it’s not uncommon to be pulled back out into the mortal world for a day or two. But as much as their new - they hesitate to say friends, but acquaintances is a little impersonal, so maybe - _annoyances_ always press them to stay just a little longer and have just a little more fun, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this world is not for them anymore.

Because it isn’t, is it? They _died_ , and it was only the dumb luck of a nearby valkyrie that gave them the chance to continue on, only for Odin to steal that from them too, _how dare she she had no RIGHT-_

Belatedly, they realize that they’re spilling oil-slick rainbows across the picnic table they’re sitting on, musical static crackling in their ears as they gesture angrily with limbs that they aren’t supposed to have in this form. With some effort, they manage to pull themself back from the edge and tuck everything away, retreating back into the shape of the Lyfrassir Edda who died and then woke up in Hotel Valhalla, mostly human and still untouched by the void.

**_whereareyou, comehome belongherewithme_ **

Speak of the eldritch horror, apparently. The words aren’t audible or even really words at all; the best description is perhaps some kind of music, if music had colors and could deposit impossible and maddening knowledge directly into your mind. It would have hurt them once, and even now they have to resist the urge to check their ears for blood. 

Instead they lean back on their hands, tipping their head up to look at the endless sky above. “You know where I am.” Talking out loud isn’t necessary, but the human part of their brain still finds it helpful. 

**_missyou littleonechildmine missyoucomehome_ **

“I’m enjoying it out here,” Lyf replies, just to be stubborn. “I like looking at the stars.”

**_stars? ihavestars comeseevisit_ **

And Lyf sees them, ever-dying and colorful in a way stars aren’t supposed to be, huge bright flames against the rainbow night. It’s some combination of their own memory and knowledge dropped on them by the being currently singing madness and chaos directly into their brain. It’s also completely not what Lyf meant, but they crack a smile at the attempt anyway. 

“I know you do, but these are different. It’s a human thing.”

**_nothumanchildmine, littleworlddevourer sosmall_ **

As always their parent’s choice in pet names leaves something to be desired, but as unsettling as the names are Lyf can always feel the affection behind them, so they don’t comment. 

“I still think like a human,” they say instead, because _I’m desperately clinging to my humanity because the thought of becoming something fully Other like you terrifies me_ is not something you say to your parent, even one like theirs. 

Not that there’s much point in keeping secrets from a being that can see literally everything, but so far they’ve been allowed the pretense of privacy wherever possible, so they like to proceed as if their thoughts are theirs alone. 

Their growing unhappiness is still noted, though, and a wordless song of comfort and love winds through them and curls gently around their bones. Lyf sighs quietly at the familiar, soothing feeling. “Yes, alright.” 

And then they let go, and they’re falling into the void. 

This place frightened them once, they think. The roiling chaos and the impossible squamous things that inhabit it are far too much for a human mind to comprehend without cracking under the strain, and they remember distantly their own pain and fear and betrayal as Odin cast them away. But then, seconds and eternities later, their parent found-made-claimed-changed them and everything was still awful and terrifying but it didn’t hurt to think about anymore because it was theirs too, all wound into their blood and bones and their very being to create a soul-deep sense of belonging. 

But that was then, and this is now, for a given value of the word. Time has little meaning here, after all, but Lyf can be certain that now is at least a different time than the one they’re remembering because they’re not scared at all now, as the comforting embrace of their parent breaks their fall and sets them gently down on a floor that didn’t exist until their feet touched it. 

They’re standing in something like a train, beautifully opulent but distorted and wrong. It makes them think of the Mechanisms and their show, the one that summoned Lyf that first time. It’s hard to say whether the train was always here to influence the show, or if it’s something pulled from Lyf’s memories of the songs. Both are true, and neither, and maybe there is no train at all. It’s best not to think about it, when it comes to this place.

**_child-mine welcome back hello missed you_ **

The voice comes from all around them, clearer now without the pesky boundaries of reality in the way, and a vast … something emerges from the wall of the train to wrap around them tightly enough that they’re glad they don’t need to breathe here. 

Lyf manages to wriggle free just enough that they can pat it with one arm. “It hasn’t been that long,” they say, switching automatically from their usual English to the same eldritch tongue sung by the void around them. “And you don’t even experience time here, anyway.”

**_still worry little one, can’t follow only watchwhispersing to you_ **

“I’ll be fine; I can’t die, remember? You made sure of it yourself.” 

**_won’t die but can hurt, don’t want you hurting voidlet_ **

The hug tightens and a wave of concern that isn’t theirs washes over them, even as they try futilely to squirm away from the fussing that’s now starting to mess up their braids 

“ _Oof-_ I have your axe, it’s fine!” Maybe having a few extra limbs will help- nope, now they just have less space to move around. Great. “I spend most of my time around the Mechanisms these days anyway, and it’s not like anything will last long enough to mess with me while they’re around.”

Around them, the silver etchings on the train wall ripple with amused rainbows, and Lyf is finally released from their parent’s suffocating hug. 

**_summoners already so young for worshippers, so precious so skilled child-mine_ **

Lyf buries their face in two of their hands and groans loudly. Coming here always means putting up with the endless doting and they know this, but that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing to endure. “Oh my gods, stop! They’re not _worshippers_ ; I think they’d shoot you for saying that, actually. They just … like bothering me, I guess.”

**_fierce godlings good protectors, bring them here show me_ **

“Absolutely not,” Lyf says without even having to think about it. The Mechanisms are bad enough around gods; introducing them to Lyf’s parent would be an absolute disaster, and that’s only if they fight. The lot of them getting along is a thought too terrifying to consider.

**_want to know your worshippers little one like knowing what you do_ **

They slide down to sit on the floor, leaning their back against the wall of the train. Outside the window, the nuclear chaos continues to roil, as colorful and incomprehensible as ever, and they mentally trace over the familiar shapes as they speak. “I told you they’re not worshippers. And don’t you already know what I’m doing all the time? I know you can watch me.”

**_different hearing from you_ **

Well, they suppose that makes sense, and it’s not like they’re on a time limit. Here at the center of reality, wrapped in their parent’s vast embrace, they could talk for millennia and still be back at Camp Halfblood in time for breakfast. “What do you want to hear about?”

**_anything everything tell me what you saw little one_ **

So they do. They talk about their latest summoning, the monsters they helped the Mechanisms fight and the triumphant singing afterward, the younger demigods that follow the immortals around the camp like ducklings. Around them, the setting flickers and changes - one moment the campfire at Camp Halfblood where Ashes staged an impromptu pyrotechnics show, then the back alley where an unfortunate cyclops learned that being knocked headfirst into a brick wall has no effect on Marius’ shooting abilities, then the forest where the Mechanisms collectively turned a game of capture the flag into a two-day long battle that ended with at least a dozen deaths for each of them.

It takes a long time to run out story material; as annoying as the Mechanisms usually are, Lyf does have to admit that they’re interesting to be around. But eventually they realize that they have nothing else to say and fall silent. Above the beach they’re currently sitting on, a brilliant galaxy painted in colors imperceivable by human eyes spins across the sky in lazy, contented swirls. 

**_happy voidlet?_ **

The question is clearly referring to the stories they’ve just finished rather than their spot here on the illusion of a beach, so Lyf has to take a moment to think about it. “Yes, I think so. They’re … fun to be around. Don’t tell them, though; they don’t need the ego boost.”

**_good, don’t need to unmake them_ **

“Good luck with that,” Lyf mutters. They don’t know how deep the Mechanisms’ cursed immortality runs, but so far they’ve been able to defy every god they’ve ever met, so Lyf feels comfortable saying the odds are in their favor. 

**_no faith little one, someday you can unmake anything you like_ **

They should be better at accepting their parent’s strange encouragements by now, but they still have to pause for a moment before responding, “Thanks. Look, I should probably be going.” 

**_child-mine growing so fast, so responsible now_ **

“Come on, we’ll be here another thousand years if you get going,” they protest. 

**_no problem there_ **

“It’s a problem for _me._ ” They feel their parent’s presence reluctantly shift back a little, opening the way for them to leave without being summoned. “Thanks. I’ll see you soon?”

**_miss you when you’re gone little one, visit soon love you_ **

Lyf’s tongue trips when they try to say it back, but they don’t have to, with their parent; the only reason they’re speaking aloud at all is for their own comfort. As they slip back into the real world, they hear the song of the void calling after them, fond and warm. 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> yeehaw


End file.
